


I Believe in Angels

by Merixcil



Series: Advent Fics 2019 [5]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Christianity, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:13:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26392450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merixcil/pseuds/Merixcil
Summary: Lyra learns of the angelic host
Series: Advent Fics 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916806





	I Believe in Angels

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: [I Have A Dream - Westlife](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HkL8GuU9_0)  
> 

“Lyra!”

The crack of Reverend Tolworth’s pointer hitting the blackboard brought an end to all thoughts of what lay beyond her lessons for the day. Lyra frowned, annoyed that she had been so distracted and tried to sit up straight in the hard little chair he kept in his study. It was desperately uncomfortable, and so close to the windows that even though the fire was flickering away happily in the grate by the Master’s armchair, she was deathly cold. 

“I don’t believe you’re listening to a word I say, girl.” Tolworth grumbled, hobbling around in front of the blackboard and wincing every time he put his weight on his bad knee. Lyra didn’t understand why he didn’t just stand still. Or better yet, sit in a marvellous throne and demand to be carried everywhere. She’d heard of princes in far off lands who did just that, and thought it sounded far more fun than having to walk. 

“What about climbing?” Pan asked. He was sat on the edge of her desk in the form of a bullfinch, almost perfectly circular as he had fluffed himself up in an attempt to relieve himself of the cold. 

“If we were important enough to be carried everywhere in a chair, we would be important enough to tell everyone when to let us out to go climbing.” 

“Lyra!”

“Sorry, Reverend Tolworth.”

“Have you paid any attention to what I have been saying?”

“Yes, Reverend Tolworth.” Lyra tried very hard to make sure her smile wasn’t at all smug. The scholars kept teaching her the same things over and over, or at least, all the ones who covered religious studies with her did. It was easy to keep up with her lessons. “We’re talking about the angels who visited the shepherds when Jesus was born.”

“Yes, very good.” Reverend Tolworth said, his voice just as gruff as if Lyra had purposely answered wrong. “And what were we saying about the nature of angels?”

“That they are holy.”

“Yes. And?”

“And they were sent by God. They’re messengers.”

“And?”

“And they have wings?”

Reverend Tolworth sighed and reached for the chalk, writing in big letters over the top of the blackboard ‘nature of angels’. “It’s true that there are angels reported as appearing with wings. But there are also angels reported as appearing with three heads, or the face of a lion, or a thousand eyes.”

“Really?” This was far more interesting than repeating the same lessons about the immaculate conception and the nativity that were all anyone could talk about at this time of year. Lyra had always thought that the Three Wise Men were the most interesting part of that business, seeing as how they had come from far away and had to make a perilous journey to visit the Son of God. She was very disappointing when she went looking for the story in her bible and found that no one had bothered to record the specifics of their trip. 

“Yes. An angel is a very terrible thing to look upon.”

“I want to meet one. Where can you find an angel, Reverend Tolworth?”

“Meet one?” Reverend Tolworth scoffed. “One does not meet an angel, an angel is sent to you by God when He chooses you to do His bidding.”

A task, an adventure. It sounded like an awful lot of responsibility. 

“You can’t do the bidding of the Almighty!” Pan protested. “You’re not old enough.”

“Am too. He wouldn’t pick me unless I was now, would He? Plus Roger would help me, and I bet the Gyptians would too. Maybe even the Master!”

“What are you wittering on about?” Reverend Tolworth asked, shuffling over to her desk. Like so many of the adults Lyra knew, he wasn’t very good at hearing other people’s dæmon’s unless he was right up close to them. His own dæmon, a badger, galloped a couple of steps in front of him, stretching up when she reached Lyra’s desk to talk to Pan.

“I was just saying that I hope God chooses me.” Lyra said. “To do His bidding and send an angel.”

Apparently this was the correct thing to say. Reverend Tolworth’s face, almost entirely obscured by his beard, broke into one of his rare smiles. “We shouldn’t wish too much on our shoulders, dear child. But it is most encouraging to see you so dedicated to your studies.” He moved back to the blackboard, and started talking about free will, wondering aloud if the angels really had any, like Lyra wasn’t even in the room at all and he was just doing more philosophy for philosophy’s sake. 

Lyra knew that her Uncle thought philosopher’s fools with no sense of the world outside their books. She leaned down to talk to Pan, making her voice as quiet as possible so as not to disturb Reverend Tolworth. 

“D’you think Lord Asriel has met an angel?” 

“Probably.” Pan replied. “But I shouldn’t think he’d let you meet one unless you start paying attention to your teachers.”

Lord Asriel was always saying that Lyra couldn’t hope to make anything of herself if she didn’t make sure the head on her shoulders was in good shape. It had taken her a while to realise what he meant, at first just thinking that he wanted her to wash her face, but Pan had spoken to Stelmaria and found out that it meant she had to be smart, and she had to know all sorts of important things. 

The philosophy things were less useful, but all this stuff about angels could only help Lyra when her uncle finally let her go to the North. She tried to settle into her uncomfortable little chair and to focus on what Reverend Tolworth was saying, straining her ears for every last drop of information she could squeeze from his ramblings about the true state of humanity’s free will. 

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally posted as part of a multi chaptered 'advent fics' fic that I'm trying to split up. If you think you've read it before, you probably have
> 
> Comments on the previous posting of this fic (just ask if you want me to remove yours) include:
> 
> >Melamungous: This was really good, I could absolutely imagine it as a scene from the book :D  
> >>Merixcil: Ahhh thank you so much friend! I got very lucky with the prompt match up...


End file.
